Thursday, August 29, 2013

Let's Go Swimming!

Summer is (finally) coming to a close around here.  Sure, we've had fun- a lot of fun actually and I've really loved our laid back summer- but it's time to get a certain 4 year old back in school. The pools are closed, all the big kids are in school, the school bus is coming around, and everyone's talking all things fall so come on preschool let's start up again!

I digress. 

Or, that was the first paragraph.  Let's get to the point!

Like I may have mentioned we've been swimming.  A lot.  And I love it.  I love the pool, and the sun, and the picnics.  I am a summer baby!  We didn't get to swim much last summer, Beckett was still pretty little and my crazy lady needed all attention focused on her.  So our swimming was pretty much limited to weekends when Matt could go with us.

But everything changed this summer!

Emery. Can. Swim!!!

This is one of those milestones I've seriously been excited to see and I figured it wouldn't take Emery long to get the hang of it.  We've done swimming lessons for 3 years now (most of those Mommy and Me I'd just like to say) and this year it just clicked!  She put her head down, held her breath and dog paddled away- and I am elated!!!  She took lessons at the beginning of the summer and had a blast!  I got to take a few pictures of her on the last day of class.  They started with water safety skills- how to help a friend out of the pool, and how to float in a life jacket. 





Then she got to show off her skills.  That's her with her head down, swimming to her teacher Miss Lauren.



And, then, her favorite part of class- diving for rings!  This child has no fear and she ceases to amaze me at what she will do.  It can be pretty scary for me, but she is a take life by the horns and do it girl.  I hope she keeps that confidence and attitude (if she could reign it in a smidge that'd be alright by me too)!


We swam probably twice a week all summer and by the time August rolled around she was doing this:

 Running, jumping off the diving board, and swimming to the side all by herself.  Look at my little tiny 3 year old (she barely made it before her 4th birthday! :)) jumping off that board.  It was really fun (and really scary) to watch her, but she just did it.  No fear.  No hesitation.  She even said "Mama, I've got it" when I tried to help her to the side. 

Dear Nike, need a spokeperson??? :)

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Who's got the Power, the Power to Read?

Alright, here's the thing.  I know I haven't been great about blogging lately and may have gotten some slack for that (I'm looking at you, Sarah!).  But here's our life lately- eat, swim, play, fight, eat, sleep, swim.  It's hot, it's August and we are just surviving the heat at this point.  Don't get me wrong- we are having a blast, it's just not super exciting or picture worthy.

Moving on.

We did do something fun last week.  Actually last week was jam packed with fun, but there was one event that Emery had been looking forward to for a while- Super Why was making an appearance at the Children's Museum and both of my kiddos were  ex-cit-ed!!!  I told her we could go a while back and spent a couple of weeks getting myself mentally prepared for this.  We took tons of pictures, so here we go!

Apparently we were not the only Houstonians who heard about this event, so the first thing we did was wait.  Wait to get into the parking garage, wait to get in the door, wait wait wait.  But my kids were such troopers!  Even waiting outside to get in the door there was minimal complaining (it took us an HOUR to park, and get inside).  But once we were in, whew!!!



(They had balls rolling along tracks on the ceiling, I was a little worried this was going to be Beckett in every picture!)



We explored everything- and there's alot to explore in this place.  It's an awesome museum, but Mama was starting to get a little frantic with all of Houston being there with us.  So, we found some peace in a fun place...

The gift shop.  Aaahhhhh.  I'm pretty sure we spent a good 30-45 minutes in here just enjoying the toys.  Could we have done this closer to home?  Sure.  But it was the one place in the museum that wasn't overrun with kids, and adults, and strollers, and oh my!!! 

After we picked out some toys we headed to get some lunch.  Grilled cheese and fruit all around please!


Then it was off for some more play.  When we first arrived at the museum we got a ticket for a 30 minute window to go see Super Why and ours was from 1:20-1:50 so we still had some time to kill before, once again, waiting in line!

 (Face paint, for the children, and that nasty sponge to smear it all around, yay!  This would be why Emery's face looks grey from now on- just so you know)






 (She found the one skunk in the whole museum.  When she realized I was taking her picture doing this she acted SO busted!!!)


(This is somewhere on Pinterest, right?  Bottle caps into the mouth of the fish.  Sure)

And then she spotted him.  Super Why.  She stood there and waved and watched him for forever.  Going into this I wasn't sure she would even want to see him when the time came.  She's not the biggest fan of, oh I don't know, Santa or the Easter Bunny so I didn't know how this would go over.  I was optimistic when she was thrilled to catch a glimpse of him.


And then finally (finally!) it was our turn to go wait in line!  Yay!

Poor little Beckett, I got the stroller for him and this happened pretty much instantly.  He was such a trooper playing all day on no naps, but as soon as I put him in the stroller he was done for!

But that meant me and my girl got to hang out together, which was fun (and a little more relaxing for me).  We talked the whole time we waited to see Super Why.

And then finally the big moment came.  It was our turn.  (Hold your breath, did she do it???)


She did!!! And she was so brave- I was really proud of her.  And then we spent a while looking at those pictures of her meeting Super Why.  She thought it was the greatest thing ever and that made all the sweat, and waiting, and anxiety worth it!

Beckett slept for a good hour or so and Emery and I got to play and eat popsicles together.  We finally started to make our way back to the car around 3:30 when we got stopped right at the exit (sneaky children's museum- you just think your done and then there's ONE more toy to see!).

So, in reality we wrapped up our trip around 4 and headed home.  It was SUCH a fun day, and Emery is still talking about meeting Super Why!  Thanks, Children's Museum!